Grasslands (eng)

Village Hall over a five-day period. People were also asked to bring photographs,
objects and images that they believed had significance in the history of the village;
photographs, tools, old tickets and traces of community plays and performances.
The archive was collated by participants and images and texts organised
around key ideas and issues: community life; heritage; political interventions;
the local economy; leisure and cultural activities. Some image/texts were selected
for projection as large scale drawings and a workshop was held on how to make
drawings from projected images. Few participants took part in the assembly of
the archive however, a dinner of Irish stew brought many to see the archive and
drawings reproduced about the history of the area.
The assembled stories and images spoke powerfully about village life and the
changing landscape: Farming and the local economy, the utopian aspirations that
drew many to live and work in the countryside, the plays put on by drama groups
and re-enactments of life in Oestergaard castle, the keep-fit and gymnastic classes
run for the children in the village. There were also negative aspects – the
closure of rights of way, empty houses bought for demolition by the council, the
former egg factory closed because of a salmonella outbreak, the renovation and
subsequent closure of the village hall and efforts to maintain the village shop. The
archive allowed efforts made repeatedly over the years to maintain a healthy social
life in the village to become visible, a reminder of communal conviviality and
political will. One participant suggested adding paintings to gables of houses, and
the archive was a ready-made source material to draw upon, a public statement
about the history of the village in the context of the EU capital of culture.
This proved successful in beginning a conversation on what might happen
with the collection of images. Mock-ups were made of what these might look
like as murals gave an idea of both the scale and the overall appearance. Learning
how to reproduce the archival images and texts took place during the next visit
to the village and workshops were held to allow participants to gain skills and
confidence. The first mural was made on the outside of the old furniture factory
in the centre of Åsted, painted from a 1982 newspaper photograph of Frilev Sieg
in his Messerschmidt car. Frilev came to see the work being made, returning for a
celebration to mark the first mural the next day. The fact that the work was made
by a group of the villagers was important – the tools of production were not the
exclusive domain of the artist, but rather with the participants.
At a subsequent event, a vote was taken on what images should be reproduced
for further murals and in August, participants painted five further houses in time
for the European Rural Forum meeting in Oestergaard Castle. Artist Leo Sagastuy
Solis, supported the group as their paintings became increasingly ambitious
in scale and complexity. The space that opened up in the process allowed some
discussion on the social life of the area and served as a reminder of co-learning
processes that used to be a part of village life; whether making reproductions
of medieval costumes for plays in the castle, house visits for communal meals.
More paintings are planned for the future as the Åsted residents plan to continue
to change and add to the collection over time. The ownership of the project
remained in the hands of the participants – a tool with which to further engage
others in the future.
None of this would have been possible without the production support of Lene
Noer and the curatorial input from Lene and Birgitte. As an artist from another
rural place I can bring a certain amount of perspective and experience to thinking
through some of the issues, however, for the process to continue to gain traction
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